[CWG-Stewardship] [client com] IPR Memo

[Andrew Sullivan]

Hi,

On Wed, Aug 05, 2015 at 08:31:03PM -0400, Greg Shatan wrote:
> ​There are some important distinctions that are being blurred here.

Well, I'm certainly not trying to blur anything, but lest anyone
mistake me for a trademark lawyer, let me be clear that I'm not.  The
IETF Trust has a lawyer, and when acting as a trustt I do what he
tells me to because as far as I can tell he's an expert in his field.
But …

> 3. The IETF Trust "Trademark Usage Guidelines" supplied by Andrew Sullivan
> and found at http://trustee.ietf.org/trademark-usage-guidelines.html are
> just that -- Trademark Usage Guidelines.

Yes.  I thought that was clear.

> or specifications," but there is no indication of any minimum quality
> standards for these products or services or any indication that quality
> control will be actively exercised (e.g., approvals, samples, site
> inspections).  The license referenced in these guidelines asks for samples
> of use of the marks, but does not ask for samples of the goods and
> services, or indicate any way that would be accomplished.  

My understanding -- but it would probably be better to ask the Trust
directly, since I'm just reflecting my own understanding -- is that
you don't see that because the only people who are licensees at the
moment work so closely with us that in fact we see all the uses.  That
is, the only actual licensee at the moment is AMS (as you can see on
http://trustee.ietf.org/licenses.html).  AMS handles the IETF
secretariat functions and therefore every trustee sees all these uses
all the time.  

It is nevertheless true that there's no formal quality control program
in place.

In any case, as I've tried to suggest, most of this is better asked of
the IETF counsel or directed at the trust, instead of it being
discussed on this list.  It's not hard to contact the trust.  You can
send mail to trustees at ietf.org, just like it says on the website
(http://trustee.ietf.org/index.html).

Best regards,

A

-- 
Andrew Sullivan
ajs at anvilwalrusden.com